Fragments of Noir

Saturday, 27 June 2026

I'm No Worse

I'm no worse than anybody else ! You work in a store, you knock down the cash register. A big boss, the income tax. Ward heeler, you sell votes. A lawyer, take bribes. I was a cop .... i used a gun.

The Prowler
Joseph Losey
1951

Bret hadn't really changed, but he had taken on weight during his nine months in the hospital. It had altered the lines of his cheek and jaw and made his old gray uniform seem too small for him. She could never wholly free her mind of the suspicion that this Bret Taylor was an imposter, living a healthy vegitative life in a dead man's clothes ...........

Three Roads
Ross MacDonald
1950

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Roads

Friday, 26 June 2026

Dirty Business

Vito Corleone is the moral center of the film. He is old, wise and opposed to dealing in drugs. He understands that society is not alarmed by "liquor, gambling .... even women." But drugs are a dirty business to Don Vito, and one of the movie's best scenes is the mafia summit at which he argues his point. The implication is that in the godfather's world there would be no drugs, only "victimless crimes" and justice would be dispatched evenly and swiftly.

Roger Ebert
(on The Godfather 1972)
1997

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-godfather-1972

Terrible Things

I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.

Tom Waits

image
unknown

Thursday, 25 June 2026

Mr Pink

Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Tarantino
1992

May Be Wrong

I may be wrong - i have been about so many things - but i can't recall ever hearing or knowing of a son-of-a-bitch who did not do all right for himself. I'm talking about real sons-of-bitches, understand. The grade-A, double distilled, steam-heated variety. You take a man like that, a son-of-a-bitch who doesn't fight it - who knows what he is and gives his all to it - and you've really got something.

Jim Thompson
Nothing Man
1954

Wednesday, 24 June 2026

Turning My Back #21

Mean Streets

Big Heat

Mr Klein

The Sniper

La Belle et Bete

Vertigo

Brighton Rock

Double Indemnity

Dark City

The Set Up

Road House (1948)

Sopranos

The Prowler

Pool of London

L'Aveu

Gilda

M (1951)

Leaving Las Vegas

A Man Escaped

Elevator to the Gallows

Reservoir Dogs

Knife in the Water

https://fragmentsofnoirblog.tumblr.com/archive

It Catches You

The truth is a snare ; you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you.